Saturday, December 24, 2011

Today Laura Vosika, Author of Blue Bells of Scotland, is dropping by to chat about her historical fiction.

Laura, would you tell us when you started writing? What was it you first wrote?

I
started writing when I was eight. I used to write story books
that went on the book shelf in my 3rd grade classroom. I also
started a novel at age 10, but found out O. Henry had already written
a similar story (The Ransom of Red Chief) and stopped.

What
period do you write about and why?

Currently,
I write in the years 1314 to 1318 in Scotland. Ironically, it
was a piece of trombone music and a children's novel that led me
there. I was drawn to the streaming banners and noble deeds in
the lyrics of the piece well-known to trombonists, Blue Bells of
Scotland, and I loved In the Keep of Time, a story about four
siblings who go into a Scottish keep and come out in a different
century. Coincidentally, both involved Scotland. I
started researching what time period a modern man might arrive in, in
which he might take part in noble deeds. It's not hard to find
battles and wars and opportunity for noble deeds, but I settled on
the Battle of Bannockburn, in June of 1314.

What
is your theory or belief on how historically accurate you need to be?
How does that affect your story? For alternative history writers: how
did you decide to change history? How do you reconcile it with “real”
history?

I
think there are readers and writers for every level of accuracy.
I personally prefer the highest possible level I can achieve.
Of course, with researching events seven hundred years ago, with so
many sources lost and destroyed in that time, and with conflicting
sources, it's not possible to be 100% accurate. But
striving for that accuracy means I sometimes edit things as I find
new information; it means it takes me longer to write a book than it
otherwise would. I hope my research impacts my writing by
making it believable and very real, by bringing the people
(I can hardly stand to dismiss them as characters!) to life.

In
a twist on alternate history, Blue Bells of Scotland actually
begins with alternate history--a world where the Scots lost at
Bannockburn. However, Niall, the medieval warrior, makes it his
job to get back to save his people, and with his efforts, the
world is set back on track to the history we know--a miraculous,
astounding victory over a much greater and better-equipped force.

Tell
me about your main character, real or fictional and why?

My
main characters are Niall Campbell, devout medieval warrior, and
Shawn Kleiner, arrogant, self-centered, womanizing modern musician.
They are fictional, two men with identical looks but very different
personalities. They're fictional for several reasons, but
primarily because they are the people who sprang to my mind, who were
just 'there,' so to speak. Another time, I may write about
someone like James Douglas, or other historical figures, because
their lives are fascinating, great stories, and well worth writing
and reading about.

What
is the most surprising thing in the period you write about? Do you
run into common misperceptions? How do you deal with them in your
fiction?

I've
been so deep in medieval Scotland for so long, that I can hardly
think what surprised me when I first learned it! One of the
things that has intrigued me, though, is how human nature can be so
much the same throughout the centuries, and yet so very different.

As
I research, I do run into arguments about the way things really were:
Did they really love their children the way we do today? Did
they bathe once a year or more routinely? Were their teeth all
bad? I doubt we can ever know for sure, and probably the truth
is somewhere in between the two extremes. In The Minstrel Boy
(book 2 of the trilogy), I do show the white teeth of people smiling
and laughing at a party, and the comment is made, "We were
always told you all have bad teeth in this time." This is
not to say their smiles were all perfect, only that I doubt they were
all terrible, either.

I
do get frustrated with the notion that women were powerless in
medieval times. It was a very different world. Many of
them may not have been what we, today, think of as independent
and powerful, but they also were not weak and helpless. There
were women like Isabel
MacDuff, who defied her husband and the king of England to
crown Bruce King of Scots, as was her family's hereditary right.
There was the remarkable Christina MacRuari, and Robert Bruce's
sister, Christina,
who, in her 60's, commanded Kildrummy Castle against the English.
There were great abbesses, queens, poets, writers, musicians, and
more, women who influenced popes and kings.

But
given the world they lived in, I think even the ordinary women,
whose names are not remembered by history, were remarkable, strong,
independent, and resilient. Were there downtrodden women?
Of course. But there were also downtrodden men, and there are
downtrodden women today, too. It's an unfortunate aspect of
living in our fallen world. The lesson, to me, is that there
are remarkable people in every day and age, and our circumstances do
not prevent us from living remarkable lives.

Who
would you most like to meet from one of your novels? Tell us about
them.

Real
or fictional? I'd love to spend a day with Shawn, because
despite all his failings, he loves life, is a musical genius, and
makes people laugh. Among the historical populace of the Blue
Bells Trilogy, I'd love to meet James Douglas, Angus Og, or Robert
Bruce, or of course any of the women I mentioned in the last
question. They were courageous, strong, and driven. They
stood up for what they believed in. James Douglas was Bruce's
right-hand man. By all accounts, he was a rather peaceful and
gentle man until he reached the battlefield, where he became a demon,
routinely fighting and winning over forces much larger than his
own. Angus Og was the Lord of the Isles, another of Bruce's
most loyal supporters, yet who insisted on his own
independence. He appears to be a man who commanded Bruce's
respect, which says a lot about him. Robert Bruce was the King
of Scots who stood against the might of England and won the
incredible Battle of Bannockburn over the far superior forces of
Edward II.

What
is your next project?

I'm
currently in the final stages of editing The Minstrel Boy, along with
editing Book 3 of the Blue Bells Trilogy. After that, I'll
finish editing a novel about an American widow with a houseful
of boys who purchases a Scottish castle, only to discover it is
already occupied: by a ghostly lady in green who insists she deal
with the castle's dark secrets. I have a completed manuscript
from years ago that I am re-entering into the computer. (This
one is set in Boston in the '90's, so a big detour from medieval
Scotland.) I also have a book in progress about large families
which I very much look forward to having time to work on. When
I finish all of that, I have several other novels started, and would
also like to put out book of short stories from medieval Scottish
history.

Saturday, December 17, 2011

I’m
Kathy Cecala and I write historical novels for teens and young
adults. I‘ve published two books in a loose-knit series called The
Foreigners Isle Saga, which spans some 1500 years on a small remote
isle in western Ireland. The
Raven Girl takes
place during the Age of Exploration and Discovery, specifically in
the year 1488; while The
Hounds of Nemhain is
set in 4th
century pagan-Celtic Eire.

When
did you start writing?

In
eighth grade, I began keeping a diary. Not one of those precious
little pink things with a lock and key, but a spiral-bound lined
notebook, which I scribbled in obsessively. Sadly, it no longer
exists, because I kept destroying it whenever anyone threatened to
read it. I wrote about school, friends, family and yes, cute boys. I
also described and reviewed all the books I was reading at the time,
as I was also an obsessive reader. My favorite genre then and now:
Historical fiction!

What
period do you write about?

In
my current series, The Foreigners Isle Saga, I’m not restricting
myself to any particular era, only setting. Each book takes place on
the mythical Irish west-coast island of Inis Ghall, but each book has
its own era. It makes for a lot of research, but I was fascinated by
the idea of how time and the influx of various peoples can affect a
small corner of the earth. And of course there’s the whole idea
that people don’t really change much through the centuries…but
actually, they do.

How
importance is historical accuracy?

It’s
very important to me personally, although I will forgive another
writer for lapses in accuracy if her/his storyline is strong and
engaging, and the characters are beautifully drawn. Story really is
the thing, after all, or else you might as well write straight
academic history. But since I’m writing for students, younger
readers in the 12-18 years group, I try to make sure my fiction is as
accurate and ‘real’ as possible, so that it can dovetail with the
history they’re learning in school. The biggest dilemma I face is
that most Irish history is extraordinarily violent. It has to be
acknowledged, but I try not to glorify the violence, but focus on the
people and their lives instead, how they’re affected and even
traumatized by this violence. Relationships are really more my thing,
and each of my books also has at least a hint of a romance in them.

Is
your main character real or fictional?

I
have different main characters for each book…all are fictional,
though they are sometimes inspired by real personages; for example,
much of my current book, The
Hounds of Nemhain, is
inspired by the real Saint Patrick’s journey from Roman-British
slave to Irish bishop, As for which character I might like to meet,
all of them, I suppose. I’d also like to meet Saint Patrick!

What
is the most surprising thing about the periods you write
about--common misconceptions?

I’m
always amazed at how much people traveled and got around in times
past. Sometimes we have this notion that people just stayed in one
spot back in the olden days. But people are restless, and have been
moving about, sometimes great distances, for centuries. One of the
reasons I embarked on this series, and chose Ireland as the setting,
is that we often have this idea that Ireland has a very singular,
exclusive, homogenous culture, freckles and red hair and shamrocks,
but it is actually quite complex, composed of several different
cultures from elsewhere in Europe, plus shreds of DNA from the most
unlikely places. But it is not difficult to understand, when you
consider the number of invaders, visitors, refugees and strangers who
have landed on Eire’s shores over the years.

Why
does historical fiction matter?

Historical
fiction may be fun and diverting for adults, but I feel it is crucial
for children and young students, in helping them understand how
history unfolds and relates to their lives today. I think too often
we think of history as a set of dusty facts and dates in a book, but
it really is the massive story of humankind--basically, it’s what
people have been doing
for years and years and years, as well as what people have been
feeling, thinking and experiencing. And I do believe that history
holds lessons for all of us. Okay, off my soapbox now. My regards go
out to all my fellow historical fiction writers, in what must be one
of the most difficult, challenging--and most rewarding--genre of all
to write in!

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

I want to welcome William Peter
Grasso, author of East Wind Returns and Unpunished, to
talk about his historical novels and his writing career.

William, when did you start
writing? What was it you first wrote?

Despite
having been a prolific writer of industry-related articles throughout
my aviation career, my few attempts at fiction over the years fell
apart after the first few chapters. In 2005, however, I began a story
that refused to die. It became my first novel, East Wind Returns.

What period do you write about
and why?

For kids
like me who grew up in the 1950s, World War II dominated our
childhood mythology. Most of our fathers—and a few of our
mothers—had served in that war, and its shadow seemed ever-present
in our lives. That shadow seems to have never left me. WWII remains
the period of history that fascinates me most.

What is the most surprising
thing in the period you write about? Do you run into common
misperceptions? How do you deal with them in your fiction?

The most
surprising thing about the WWII era—and contrary to the rosy
perceptions offered by some writing on the subject—was despite the
unprecedented communal effort required to wage global war, divisive
social issues were not put on hold for the duration in any of the
combatant nations. Labor conflicts, racial strife, political
corruption and economic injustice continued unabated and were
distorted or simply ignored by the governments and media for the good
of the war effort.

Another
misperception I encounter when talking of military campaigns is the
idea of “juggernauts.” For example, WWII is often seen as just a
series of juggernaut-like military actions: the Japanese and Germans
were seen as unstoppable in the early years of the war, but saw their
fortunes reversed by an Allied juggernaut in the later years. A true
juggernaut is only possible when facing a defenseless or sorely
unprepared opponent; the military campaigns of that era were actually
very close-run contests whose outcomes were usually in doubt until
their very closing moments and could hinge on quirks of weather,
personality, or sheer luck. Examples of this abound in East Wind
Returns, where the American forces are still unsure of final victory
despite having marched to Japan’s doorstep. In my recently released
second novel, Unpunished, Joe Gelardi, an American airman
interned in Sweden in September 1944, tells Pola Nilsson-MacLeish, a
Swedish government official and his soon-to-be lover, that the war
will be over by Christmas. Pola replies Really? And who will be the
victor?

Who would you most like to meet
from one of your novels? Tell us about them.

Returning
to the previous question, the answer to this question would be Pola
Nilsson-MacLeish. She is a Swedish economist, educated in England and
married to a Scottish army officer (who she has not seen in three
years), who finds herself in charge of interned airmen—Allied and
German—in the Swedish city of Malmö. Despite her bookish
appearance, she is something of a libertine and engages in a torrid
love affair with American airman Joe Gelardi. This affair will
initially devastate their lives, but years later, through her
considerable courage, it brings them a redemption that alters an
American presidential election.

Pola is an
original; she is the first of my characters who is solely a
construction of my imagination. All the others are based on people I
have known personally or public figures (in some cases, the actual
public figure, like Truman, Marshall, Nimitz, etc.).

What is your next project?

With
Unpunished finally published, I’ve begun work on a new
alternate history novel set in northern Australia in the bleak days
of 1942. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor has proved much more
devastating to US military power in the Pacific than occurred in
actuality, giving Japan uncontested domination of the southwest
Pacific and Asia. The US can do little more than help defend
Australia against inevitable Japanese invasion as it rebuilds its
naval resources. The story unfolds through the eyes of a young US
Army officer—a veteran of Pearl Harbor—who is tasked with a
dangerous reconnaissance mission on the wild Cape York peninsula of
Australia. He finds himself dealing not only with the elusive
Japanese but an indifferent high command, a hostile natural
environment, enigmatic Aborigines, and a headstrong white woman who
has refused to evacuate. I hope to have it completed by the spring of
2012.

William, thanks for talking with me. I share your fascination with WWII and many of my favorite novels
are set during that period.

Friday, December 9, 2011

For something of a change in pace, today I have an interview with Historical Romance author Grace Elliott author of A Dead Man's Debt and Eulogy's Secret.

Grace, lease
tell our readers a little about yourself?

My name is Grace
Elliot and I lead a double life as a veterinarian by day and author
of historical romance by night. I work in companion animal practise
just outside London, in a village with a duckpond in front of the
Norman church - history is all around me!

I also act as
housekeeping staff to five cats, two teenage sons and a guinea pig
(not necessarily in order of significance!) I’m an avid reader and
will give any genre a go, but my favourite is historical romance. My
debut novel, “A Dead Man’s Debt” was published last year, and
the first in The Huntley Trilogy, “Eulogy’s Secret” was
released this October!

When did you start writing? What was it you
first wrote?

I started writing after a
“Eureka” moment.

That moment came when at pa school reunion.
Friends I hadn’t seen for twenty years were eager to know if I
still wrote. My puzzled expression betrayed the fact that I’d
completely forgotten how the stories I wrote for English homework,
were often read to a hushed class. At that reunion, it all came
flooding back - the satisfaction of crafting a story, of writing
until your fingers ached, of losing yourself in the characters…so I
went home and after a twenty year gap, started writing again.

My first full length novel (unpublished ) is
called “The Woman Who Paints Horses” and was inspired by a nearby
cottage where a famous Victorian artist used to live. I looked into
her life story and was hooked in the way that you are when the truth
is stranger than fiction. I have a special place in my heart for that
story, and who knows, one day I may re-write it and see what happens.

What period do you write about and why?

“A Dead Man’s Debt” and my latest book,
“Eulogy’s Secret” are both set in the Regency period. I
gravitated to this era because of its natural romance, a time when
women’s fashion favoured flimsy empire line gowns and men cared
about the cut of their jacket. It was a time when men were such
dangerous creatures that for a lady to be alone in a room with one
could ruin her reputation. And then there’s the horses and
carriages, moonlight drives and candlelit balls…and that’s part
of why I write, for the escapism, so what more fertile ground for the
imagination of the romance author than the regency.

What is your theory or belief on how
historically accurate you need to be? How does that affect your
story? For alternative history writers: how did you decide to change
history? How do you reconcile it with “real” history?

Historical accuracy is tantamount, and yet for
me as a romance writer, it shouldn’t be so ‘in your face’ as to
trip the reader up. Take the example of dialogue. If I were to write
authentic contemporary speech appropriate for the Georgina period, it
would be almost impenetrable for today’s reader. So a compromise is
in order. It would be a huge mistake to use words or phrases that are
blatantly out of keeping with the era, but to update the way English
was spoken then to help the flow of dialogue, is in my view,
acceptable.

Having
said that, the importance of historical accuracy can invoke a lot of
strong feelings as I recently found out. Whilst watching an episode
of “The Tudors” I spotted Anne Boleyn riding astride and queried
in a blog post of mine, whether this would have been acceptable in
Tudor times. The deluge of responses to that post proved to me that
accuracy is something people get very heated about and woe betide
anyone that laughs in the face of accuracy. (For those that are
interested here is the link to that post:
http://graceelliot-author.blogspot.com/2011/09/did-anne-boleyn-ride-astride.html
)

Tell me about your main character, real or
fictional and why?

The heroine in my recent release, “Eulogy’s
Secret” is Eulogy Foster. Her character, and indeed the novel
itself, arose out of seeing a poster on the London Underground!
Whilst taking my son’s to the theatre, through the scratched glass
of a Jubilee line train, I saw a poster with the word “Eulogy” in
capital letters across it. This stuck in my mind and it occurred to
me what an enigmatic name “Eulogy” would make. Something truly
terrible must have happened for a parent to name their child that -
perhaps the mother dying in childbirth, or even something darker and
more sinister…And so the idea behind Eulogy’s Secret was born.
(That poster, by the way, was advertising a memorial concert at the
Royal Albert Hall.)

Who would you most like to meet from one of
your novels? Tell us about them.

What a good question! I’d
love to meet Tristan Farrell from “Eulogy’s Secret”. Farrell is
the Irish artist who with Eulogy as his model is inspired to paint
truly great works of art that set the Ton buzzing. He’s quite a
character and has an artist’s way of seeing the truth behind the
façade. He’d be excellent company and since Eulogy has already
bagged the hero, Jack Huntley, I’d happily spend time in the
company of the Irish charmer, Tristan Farrell.

What is your next project?

I’m
hard at work at book two in The Huntley Trilogy (working title
“Hope’s Betrayal”.) Each book features one of the three Huntley
brothers and the hero in Hope’s Betrayal is the dashing naval
Captain, George Huntley. I know when the writing is going well when I
dream about the characters - and even if I say so myself, Captain
George Huntley is a humdinger of a man, whom I’m totally in love
with. I can’t wait to finish the book so that I can unleash him on
the world and spread the infatuation. Hope’s Betrayal is going to
be an action packed historical romance with smuggling skulduggery,
treachery and of course….a love that brings Huntley to his knees.

Monday, December 5, 2011

Today I have an interview with Kelby Ouchley, author of the historical novel Iron Branch. Thanks for dropping by my blog to answer some question, Kelby.

First, when
did you start writing? What was it you first wrote?

Looking
back, it may have started when I won a creative writing contest in
the 7th grade. It was a sci-fi short story. I have always
enjoyed creative writing, although I did not have many opportunities
in that arena while working for the federal government for 30 years.
Since 1995 I have been writing and narrating a weekly natural history
program for the public radio station that serves the Ark-La-Miss
area. Some of these essays were published in literary journals and
other outlets. In October 2011, LSU Press released them in book form
as Bayou-Diversity: Nature and People in the Louisiana Bayou Country.
LSU Press also published my first non-fiction book, Flora and Fauna
of the Civil War: An Environmental Reference Guide, in 2010.
The main topic of this interview, my historical novel Iron Branch: A
Civil War Tale of a Woman In-Between, came out a couple of months
ago.

What
period do you write about and why?

I like
to write about the American Civil War era. It was such an epic
turning point in our country’s history and virtually everyone was
caught up in it to some degree, from drafted soldiers to destitute
housewives. Significantly (at least for those of us writing
about the era) and because of an increasing rate of literacy in the
country, large numbers of people from all walks of life wrote about
their lives during the Civil War. The countless letters,
diaries, and journals of the times provide a treasure trove of
material that can be mined by authors of historical fiction.

What
is your theory or belief on how historically accurate you need to be?
How does that affect your story? For alternative history writers: how
did you decide to change history? How do you reconcile it with “real”
history?

Major
historical events provide the general background of my story.
My story line tends to flow in and around those events that made
headlines at the time. There is one aspect of my writing that I
insist be as accurate as possible. My education and vocation
for many years involved ecology and natural history. It is very
important to me to get them right. I would like to think that
my settings and story lines are rich and textured with detailed
environmental nuances that involve flora, fauna, and phenology of the
ecosystems at hand. Nothing distracts me more than a story with
implausible natural settings.

Tell
me about your main character, real or fictional and why?

The
main character of Iron Branch is fictional. She is a young woman of
mixed blood (half Choctaw, half white). The story is told in
the first person. I wanted to portray the cultural conflicts of
the Civil War from the perspective of those not often elevated to
lead roles. She tells the story of her life and that of a young
soldier in north Louisiana during the war. They become involved
with a cast of characters the likes of which are also usually
relegated to minor parts in most Civil War fiction.

What
is the most surprising thing in the period you write about? Do you
run into common misperceptions? How do you deal with them in your
fiction?

The
Civil War was much larger than marching soldiers, scheming generals,
and dreadful battles. Most drama occurred far from the
battlefield in the lives of millions who were not in the front lines
of glorious charges into the mouths of cannon. Misperceptions
about the Civil War abound. For example, many southerners
abhorred slavery and many northerners detested African Americans
whether free or slave. I try to overcome these misperceptions
in my fiction by portraying the situations accurately as I understand
them.

Who
would you most like to meet from one of your novels? Tell us about
them.

I
would like to meet Atlas from Iron
Branch and spend some time on the front
porch of his cabin that sits tight to the bayou bank. He is a
wise, old slave who has experienced unimaginable atrocities
throughout his life. His experiences have gelled into a
personal philosophy that includes compassion beyond reason. I
still have a lot to learn from him.

What
is your next project?

I have
been approached by a university press about writing a trade book on
alligators. If I decide to tackle it, the research should yield
an abundance of fodder for my next historical novel!

I love
that this takes a very different look at the period than the usual
Civil War novel. You'll find Iron Branch: A Civil War Tale of a Woman
In-Between at Amazon for only $2.99 for Kindle and it is also
available in paperback.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

I would like to introduce you to historical fiction writer Sarah Woodbury, the author of several fascinating novel with medieval settings, my favorite setting for novels. Thanks for dropping in, Sarah.

First, I'd like to ask when
did you start writing? What was it you first wrote?

Reading
and writing are a part of my earliest memories of something that I
liked to do. What I wrote most when I was younger was poetry (I’m
sure very bad). Then, when I was about twelve, I began to focus more
on schoolwork and almost forgot that I loved to write fiction and
that I even had a creative side. Having children (and homeschooling
them) encouraged my creativity again in my late twenties and
thirties. A little over five years ago, at the age of thirty seven,
I took the plunge and started my first novel. It was a
straight-forward fantasy which will never see the light of day,
though I’ve raided it since for characters and scenes.

I know you write medieval fiction. Would you explain why?

My
books are all set in dark age and medieval Wales. It’s a crazy
time period, in a way, because we know so little about that era.
This gives more scope for fiction, which is an aspect I particularly
enjoy. I fell in love with Wales when I lived in the UK during my
college years. Plus, my family is historically Welsh, and I found
learning about my own history fascinating.

What
is your theory or belief on how historically accurate you need to be?
How does that affect your story? For alternative history writers: how
did you decide to change history? How do you reconcile it with “real”
history?

I
write historical fantasy, alternative history, and medieval
mysteries, so I cover the whole gamut of types of novels where
history needs to be more or less real. With my After Cilmeri
series, which is time travel/alternative history, I very rigorously
adhere to the culture of the day and the historical events that I
don’t change. At the same time, my books take off on a trajectory
that never happened, which eases some of these concerns.

For
my historical fantasy books, I apply the same standard, in that the
events are as historically accurate as I can make them, except when I
add the fantastical element (in The Last Pendragon Saga, this
would be the interplay between the Celtic gods and our world, and in
Cold My Heart, it’s the use of the sight and that the
book is about King Arthur, who may not have existed at all).

For
The Good Knight, the first of my Gareth and Gwen medieval
mysteries, the events related in the book really happened. I include
no ‘fantasy’ elements, except for the existence of Gareth and
Gwen, my two detectives. That and the specifics of the crimes they
solve are the fiction part in my historical fiction.

What
is the most surprising thing in the period you write about?

One
of the continually surprising things to me about medieval Wales is
how little we know about it. We don’t know birthdays. We don’t
know the names of mothers. We don’t know the exact location of
Garth Celyn (Aber), the seat in North Wales of the Welsh princes.
Ignorance about the history of Wales is so rampant that there’s a
story that one of the twentieth century owners of what might be Garth
Celyn found ancient documents stuffed into a wall and burned them
because they were in Latin and she couldn’t read them!

Do
you run into common misperceptions? How do you deal with them in your
fiction?

I
think there is very few common understandings about Wales in the
United States, because so few people know anything about it. At the
same time, the country has been sidelined and the people ridiculed by
the ruling power (England) for 700 years. I spoke with one Welsh
person, living in the United States, who talks about his grandmother
being ‘put out in the yard’ as a schoolgirl for speaking Welsh.
The prejudice and misunderstandings between the English and Welsh are
too numerous to mention.

Who
would you most like to meet from one of your novels? Tell us about
them.

I
want to meet Prince Hywel. He is the second bastard son of Owain
Gwynedd, a king of North Wales in the 12th century. He’s
not the main character in The Good Knight, but he plays a
central role. He’s smart and resourceful and always strives to
stay one step ahead of everyone else.

What
is your next project?

I
am writing the second in the Gareth and Gwen medieval mystery series.
The first draft is almost complete and I’m very excited about the
book. I can’t wait to share it … I estimate it should come out
in mid-2012.